The American attacks against the Admiralty Islands are successful, but this causes real tensions between Commanders Douglas MacArthur and Chester Nimitz. Much of this week is taken up by planning and meetings on both sides, actually- Adolf Hitler plans the occupation of Hungary, Josef Stalin plans new offensives in Ukraine, and the Allies plan to reconfigure their whole front in Italy. It's all the prelude to an explosion of action.

Across Europe, non-Germans are filling the ranks of Heinrich Himmler's forces. These foreign fighters certainly don't meet the racial standards of the SS but times are tough and the Reichsführer-SS needs warm bodies. So, does that mean Himmler's given up on the idea of a Germanic master race? Not at all. And he uses all sorts of twisted esoteric logic to justify his latest moves.